


The Perfect Secret

by AudreyxxHorne



Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Mystery, Romance, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-04 14:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 5,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10992735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AudreyxxHorne/pseuds/AudreyxxHorne
Summary: Audrey Horne has a big secret.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story begins in a more matter-of-fact, dossier-esque way, but will eventually bloom into more traditional storytelling. The timeframe will be predominantly set 25 years later and is mostly the product of my own imagination, though elements of the new season may be incorporated.

At eighteen years old, Audrey Horne's life would be changed forevermore. 

It had all started when she had first spied the handsome Special Agent on one early morning at her father's hotel. Whatever attraction she felt for him was so much deeper than a throwaway lust affair; something about him had made her feel complete for the first time that she could recall. Maybe it was because he was so wholesome compared to most of the other men in her life, or maybe it was just because he was the first person who seemed genuinely interested in her and didn't brush her off as a weirdo. Audrey had often pondered why he made her heart sing like no other, but she could never reach a definite conclusion. 

The days and eventual weeks that had followed their first meeting had been tough. More changed in Audrey's life than she could have ever possibly accounted for and somewhere along the lines, she had wound up caught in an explosion at the bank during an act of selfless activism. Her recovery had somehow been swift, minus the residual sharp flashes of pain that she would occasionally feel in her hips and knees. Still, it could have been far more gruesome, so she didn't dwell on it. 

Instead, she had chosen to dwell on what had happened to her Special Agent. Nobody would give her even a tiny portion of the truth, so she sought it out herself. Audrey squeezed out every resource she possibly could find before coming to the conclusion that she would have to become an insider in order to get their knowledge. Unsurprisingly, that was exactly what she did. 

It had taken gruelling hours of extensive research, interviews, travel and physical performance tests, but after what felt like forever, Audrey Horne became a certified CIA Agent. Initially, she had been enamoured with the idea of becoming an FBI Agent, but after thinking it through, she realised that if she wanted to do more research, the CIA would be her best bet. A nice bonus with it was that she would also get to eventually travel more, something that her heart had long been set on. 

Months of investigations had eventually turned into years, then decades, and Audrey had built a substantial reputation of being one of the finest Agents that the CIA had to offer. There were few places in the world that she hadn't been and even fewer were those who knew her real name; she had carefully constructed multiple lives for herself depending on who she was dealing with. 

Yet, there was so much that nobody could even dream of being associated with her. Perhaps that was why most weren't at all shocked when she suddenly disappeared from the CIA without a trace. It just seemed like the type of thing that Audrey Horne would do. After all, her reputation for strangeness and mystery hadn't escaped her, if anything, it had intensified with time as the puzzle that was her life became harder to put together. Not even her own father had heard from her since she was eighteen and had long resigned himself to never finding out the truth. 

Audrey didn't see her life as being that great of a puzzle, she saw what she did as a way of survival and almost, a work of art. After all, not a single soul had yet managed to figure out the truth of the matter. 

 


	2. Closer

What could change in twenty-five years? Nearly everything in the greater scheme of things. 

Even Audrey's love for her Special Agent had changed. With time, it had only intensified and it was sometimes the only thing that gave her the determination to carry on with the day. Giving up hope wasn't a temptation that had even crossed her mind, no matter how many dead leads she had stumbled on or how many obstacles she had climbed. After all, her name's Audrey Horne and she gets what she wants. 

Audrey had garnered an immeasurable amount of knowledge over the years and it showed. The grand walls of her house were largely compromised of bookcase after bookcase, crammed to bursting point with enormous books that although were old, had no time to gather dust. More than that, her face showed a certain wiseness that only seemed to materialise with one's age; each delicate, faint line had a story behind it that she would surely never give away. 

As the rain lashed against the strong windows of her house, Audrey watched, deep in thought. Occasionally, the smoke from the cigarette that she was smoking would briefly obscure her view, but she never lost her focus. It was easy to observe when your time wasn't occupied by others, after all. 

Only when she moved from her chair was when the silence was abruptly shattered as the leather sprung back up. It was the time of day where she would check on the progress of her relatively recent acquisition: a glass box. Unbeknownst to everybody else, she had a long history of shares in various organisations and companies, which had been part of how she had eventually managed to reach the prestigious title of billionaire. Having grown up as Ben's daughter, she knew full well what the power of money could do, so she had remained steadily committed to investing wisely. More than ever, she was glad of it because there was no way that she would have been able to obtain the glass box had she not paid a huge amount for it. The right connections helped, too... naturally. 

On most days, nothing happened in the box. The one time where something did, the witness (some fresh-faced college kid who she had bribed) was so terrified that he refused to talk about it until she used her connections to get him to speak up. Deeming him an idiot, Audrey reviewed the footage for herself and was filled with a strange sense of hope by it. Whatever she had been doing was working; something was ready to come to the surface and her intuition was telling her that a reunion wasn't far off. 

Retiring to her study, Audrey was eager to write down everything that she had seen on the footage and how it could correlate with the rest of the information she had compiled. With a long night ahead of her, she poured out a single-malt scotch and settled back into her slightly oversized, padded chair.


	3. The Dream

Audrey couldn't be sure of the time that she had woken up, but she had a gut feeling that it was later than she ordinarily would have liked. Her glasses had long slipped off of her nose and had landed half-heartedly atop of the thickest book that had lain splayed on her desk. 

None of that was important, though. What her mind was occupied with instead was the eerily detailed dream that she had woken up from. In it, she was at a bar, half-bathed in deep blue light. The music had become a blur with the rest of the idle chatter in the background and so the only thing she was focused on was her drink in hand. That was until she recognised a voice that she would anywhere:  _his_. She had almost fallen off of the stool until she remembered how to breathe again. Yet, as she looked closer at him, Audrey's heart sank. It was Dale Cooper, only, it wasn't. Much could change in twenty-five years, she knew, but there's no way that the real him would be so foul-mouthed with soulless eyes and overgrown hair. He reminded her of the depictions of the entity known as BOB that she had read about and that was when she knew that the worst had happened. 

Audrey's breathing hadn't quite recovered even as she woke up and semi snapped to her senses. What had truly left her shaken to her core was that she  _liked_  the way that he looked at her in the dream. Was that how bad her loneliness had become? That she was willing to take a caricature of the man she loved in the hopes of receiving the tiniest amount of affection? She feared so. 

Repeating the mantra of it being 'just a dream' to herself over the course of the day didn't placate her fears. By the end of the day, she was sitting in front of the fireplace in her sitting room questioning the entirety of her moral character. That dream hadn't been the first that had made her feel deeply ashamed, but to date, it had been the most vivid. The scent of him still lingered in her house, leaving her wondering if it even  _had_ been a dream. Still, Audrey needed to get it off her chest, so like with every dream she could recall, she wrote a long, detailed entry. Yet she couldn't find the nerve to go back and read over it, but even just from a quick glance, she had observed that her usual delicate penmanship was more akin to sloppy scribbles. It wasn't like her to put off journaling until the end of the day and she couldn't recall ever having felt so unshakeably perturbed at something that was far beyond her control.

As tempting as it was for her to go out to escape her mind, she was afraid that she would somehow encounter the bad Dale. Worse, she was afraid that she would like the bad Dale. Deeply unsettled by the conflicts of her mind, Audrey popped a sleeping pill before climbing into bed, silently praying that all of the answers to everything she had been searching for would come to her when she woke. Even with the sleeping pill, she struggled to settle, her mind spinning with the knowledge that she had wasted an entire day pacing over a dream and trying to figure it out when she could have discovered what had really happened in the box.


	4. Fear

Audrey couldn't be sure of the time that she had woken up, but she had a gut feeling that it was later than she ordinarily would have liked. Her glasses had long slipped off of her nose and had landed half-heartedly atop of the thickest book that had lain splayed on her desk.

None of that was important, though. What her mind was occupied with instead was the eerily detailed dream that she had woken up from. In it, she was at a bar, half-bathed in deep blue light. The music had become a blur with the rest of the idle chatter in the background and so the only thing she was focused on was her drink in hand. That was until she recognised a voice that she would anywhere: _his_. She had almost fallen off of the stool until she remembered how to breathe again. Yet, as she looked closer at him, Audrey's heart sank. It was Dale Cooper, only, it wasn't. Much could change in twenty-five years, she knew, but there's no way that the real him would be so foul-mouthed with soulless eyes and overgrown hair. He reminded her of the depictions of the entity known as BOB that she had read about and that was when she knew that the worst had happened.

Audrey's breathing hadn't quite recovered even as she woke up and semi snapped to her senses. What had truly left her shaken to her core was that she _liked_ the way that he looked at her in the dream. Was that how bad her loneliness had become? That she was willing to take a caricature of the man she loved in the hopes of receiving the tiniest amount of affection? She feared so.

Repeating the mantra of it being 'just a dream' to herself over the course of the day didn't placate her fears. By the end of the day, she was sitting in front of the fireplace in her sitting room questioning the entirety of her moral character. That dream hadn't been the first that had made her feel deeply ashamed, but to date, it had been the most vivid. The scent of him still lingered in her house, leaving her wondering if it even _had_ been a dream. Still, Audrey needed to get it off her chest, so like with every dream she could recall, she wrote a long, detailed entry. Yet she couldn't find the nerve to go back and read over it, but even just from a quick glance, she had observed that her usual delicate penmanship was more akin to sloppy scribbles. It wasn't like her to put off journaling until the end of the day and she couldn't recall ever having felt so unshakeably perturbed at something that was far beyond her control.

As tempting as it was for her to go out to escape her mind, she was afraid that she would somehow encounter the bad Dale. Worse, she was afraid that she would like the bad Dale. Deeply unsettled by the conflicts of her mind, Audrey popped a sleeping pill before climbing into bed, silently praying that all of the answers to everything she had been searching for would come to her when she woke. Even with the sleeping pill, she struggled to settle, her mind spinning with the knowledge that she had wasted an entire day pacing over a dream and trying to figure it out when she could have discovered what had really happened in the box. 


	5. Ready To Go

Audrey vowed that today, she would make use of every hour and regain her composure. A good night's rest had done wonders and at last, she felt that she could look at things more rationally. Still, she couldn't bring herself to consider that the search for her Special Agent would amount to nothing; Audrey simply denied herself the right to think in such a way.

Delving into damn near every book she had at her disposal, Audrey quickly got down to business. Her first inkling was that the creature was an alien, but she was reluctant to state it objectively. While she thumbed through the books and scribbled her findings down in a haze, she smiled to herself as she thought back to her days in the CIA. Most would probably assume that she hated her job which is why she upped and left, but that wasn't true. She had loved every moment of it, but had garnered everything that she needed so saw no point in staying. But they didn't need to know that, right? 

As she was working, she couldn't help but get the sense that maybe the species of the creature wasn't important after all. What was important was that it had proved that she hadn't wasted all of these years searching mythology, because the _other side_ really did exist and she had definite proof of that now. Suddenly, she sprung from her chair and her face broke into a radiant smile, armed with the knowledge that if a presumed extraterrestrial could show itself like that, then surely, tracking down her Special Agent couldn't be out of the realms of possibility either. Sometimes, it was just the little things that kept her from giving up; seeing a particular blend of coffee and wondering what his thoughts on it may be, warm cherry pie with cool vanilla ice cream... she  _would_ find him, she knew it. 

But she would have to go further than her house and even New York City where she had taken up residence. She knew that she had become something of a recluse over time, because that's what loneliness inevitably did. The company she kept was knowledge and hard work. Maybe if she visited the town of Twin Peaks, for the first time in twenty-five years, it would finally pay off. Or if it didn't, maybe she would finally have some closure. Of course, she prayed that it wouldn't ultimately conclude to the latter.

So that night, Audrey spent much of it packing and reflecting. It didn't even feel like it had been that long and she wondered if she would feel any different once there. After all, time stilled in Twin Peaks... one of the biggest things she loathed about it. Would she be as unpopular as ever? Probably, but she wasn't going back to make friends. She wasn't even going to visit her father because if he truly cared, then he would have used all of his resources to find her. He never came. Instead, he left her feeling as lonely as she did when he would put Laura on his lap and not her. 

Folding up the last of the smart skirts she was taking with her, Audrey gently patted it down with the others before closing up the suitcase, thoughts of Twin Peaks and its numerous residents rampant in her mind. This may be the best or the worst decision of her life yet, but she would only find out tomorrow. 


	6. The Beginning Of The Return

Audrey  _really_ wished that she hadn't chosen to drive to Twin Peaks. She was convinced that she had managed to find every bit of traffic under the sun on the way to the town. It didn't help that her stomach was already in knots and that she had barely eaten before leaving; that, combined with the stop/start motion had left her feeling worse for wear. 

But as she eventually entered the town, far later than she would have liked, her grip on the steering wheel loosened as she felt an odd sense of calmness overcome her. Not much had changed, except that she hadn't yet recognised any faces. It was difficult to make a real judgement yet, since she couldn't remember the last time she had been through the town on that specific route. Despite her affluent background, her father had never taken the family travelling, owing it to Johnny and his difficulties. Audrey had always suspected that it had been more than that,  _like maybe how it would mean that her parents would actually have to spend time together_ , she thought, with a vaguely wicked smirk. 

Compelled to turn down the radio that had been softly playing a smooth jazz station, Audrey allowed her eyes to drink in the sights of the town as she drove through. She had almost forgotten just how many trees there really were and how they danced and seemed to whisper their own secrets in the wind. Being a part of Twin Peaks, maybe they actually did. 

Driving past The Great Northern had stuck in her throat more than she had expected. She and her father had parted on less than amicable terms, but she didn't hate him ~~\---~~ all she wished for was that he could at least act like he loved her. The argument that had been the final blow to any chance of a relationship they might have had started when Audrey insisted that something wasn't right about how Agent Cooper had disappeared. She had refused to accept that he just vanished into thin air, there  _had_ to be more to the story than that. But Ben was having none of it and insisted that she should just worry about the family business; Audrey had suspected that he had caught wind of there being a potential romance between her and Dale because him letting her have anything to do with the business had only been a recent development. 

_Dwelling on the past wasn't presently important, though, right?_

* * *

Audrey had elected to stay at a lodge that bordered on the outskirts of the town, knowing that being further away would be best for her mission. If she bumped into people she once knew, she would surely have to explain herself more and lord knows that she had done more than enough of that in the town. 

The coffee wasn't great and it certainly couldn't hold a candle to The Double R's house blend, but what could? Sometimes, she took it for granted how privileged she had been in some respects growing up in the town. Still, being in a strange lodge was somehow more comforting because she truly was an outsider here and wasn't being ignored or judged by people she actually knew. The warmth of the coffee mug helped her relax somehow and she settled into the high-backed wooden chair, feeling strangely cozy even though summer had barely started. 


	7. Meetings

Audrey still wasn't sure exactly how she had managed to find herself in The Bang Bang Bar almost exactly twenty-four hours after arriving in the town. 

When she was still a resident, it was called The Roadhouse and it had a weird atmosphere that never quite sat right with her, so she didn't visit too often. The place was either filled with lovesick teenagers or a stupid fight was taking place; sometimes both at once. Audrey couldn't bear it because she wasn't a part of that carefree, teen-dream world. Her mind had always been older than her body and nobody understood, except for maybe Laura, but they had never connected:  _different worlds_  came into mind again ~~\---~~ such was life. 

As she traced her index finger around the rim of her crystal Old Fashioned glass, the world around her seemed to melt away and for a few moments, she felt close to blissful. It was only when she heard her name being mentioned that she was pulled out of her short-lived comfort. Looking up to see who wanted her attention, her eyes automatically widened at the sight of a long-haired Dale Cooper. Before she even had time to react, he sat down next to her and placed a firm hand on her thigh. 

"You've been having quite the adventure in my absence, haven't you, Audrey?" he sinisterly interrogated as his eyes pierced into her soul. 

Letting out a chuckle as a result of both her surprise and fear, Audrey couldn't resist a smirk. "An adventure? Not exactly," 

"I don't know what I was thinking all of those years ago... you're a deviant of a woman and very easy on the eyes. Can you forgive me?" 

" _You_ weren't thinking anything because we've never met before. I know that you're not the real him, please don't treat me like a fool." 

Suddenly, the mood changed and everything seemed to fit into its right place all at once as a great weight was lifted from Audrey's shoulders. 

Dale just laughed and threw and arm around her. "Don't be like that," he whined. "I only came here because I want your help and the word is that you're the woman to ask." 

"I don't take requests, Dale. What's in it for me?" 

"There's no need for hostility, Audrey. If you can help me, which I know you can, I'll give you anything you want." 

Audrey would have been lying if she had claimed that the offer hadn't been tempting. At that moment, her thoughts whirled around in her mind and she began questioning if the real Dale would even still want to be around her after not only the things she had done over the years, but after what he had been through. While she didn't claim to know everything about The Black Lodge, she knew that there would be no way that he would emerge from it exactly the way he could have been. 

"Okay, Dale, if I can help you, then I would like to have coffee with you after." 


	8. Reality And Absurdity

"Coffee? You've just got yourself a deal, Audrey." Dale told her as his eyes glimmered mischievously. "I'll be in touch." 

With that, and a final squeeze of her thigh, he left and Audrey was back to staring at the liquid in her glass once more with that certain pensive quietness that she had possessed for so many years. After around twenty minutes or so, Audrey went back home, unable to get him out of her mind... not that she had any intention of doing so. Although she may have made a mistake in aiding the doppelgänger of the man she loved, she had nothing to lose so did it  _truly_  matter? Not really: she'd deal with the moral dilemma later. One thing was for certain, though, she wouldn't be writing this down ~~\---~~ _the reality of it would set in more if she did_. 

* * *

Audrey spent the following day waiting for some kind of sign from him (or better yet, the man himself) to appear out of thin air. Yet, even if she did have the means to communicate with him, she wouldn't have. After all, it would have been stupid to assume that he would treat her any different to the others; Audrey had accepted that she was probably nothing more to him than a pawn in getting information. In the greater scheme of things, wasn't everybody just a pawn to whatever divine force there had to be out there anyway? It didn't really matter, she was just happy to see him again, even if he wasn't how she had remembered. A sick part of her even felt  _good_  about it, how she was sort of getting back at Dale for rejecting her, thus breaking her heart all of those years ago. 

When she had returned from a solitary walk to clear her mind, Audrey found a note slipped under the door (much like she had done to him once upon a time). Reading it, she noticed how his handwriting was still the same. The contents of the note had been brief; a set of co-ordinates, what appeared to be a Latin phrase written backwards, and a sprinkling of hieroglyphics. It read as relatively simple to her and she sat down in front of her travel laptop to see what she could figure out. Audrey suspected that she would have more questions than answers by the end of it.

The first instinct that had came to her as she analysed the hieroglyphics in particular was that they translated to something about resurrection and freedom and the Latin phrase alluded to eternity:  _ab aeterno_. The co-ordinates were less straight-forward as they didn't match any known location, but there was no doubt in her mind that it was meant to be that way. Audrey coded her findings using the Theban alphabet before staring at the co-ordinates again. Did they even belong to this world? It wouldn't surprise her if they were part of something bigger. 

That night, Audrey went to bed with thoughts of long-forgotten languages, numbers, and Dale Cooper dizzying her mind. 


	9. The Flames

Audrey sharply awoke early the next morning from a loud knock at the door. Quickly throwing on one of the provided robes, she staggered over to the door and was hardly surprised to see the source of the intrusion. 

"I didn't mean to wake you so suddenly, Audrey," Dale told her before tangling his rough hands through her bed-hair.

Instinctively relaxing, Audrey offered him a small smile. "Don't worry. I got your note..."

"Of course you did."  

Audrey produced her laptop before pulling up the document where she had transcribed what she could. For a moment, he looked over it with an unreadable expression painted on his face. "I always knew you were a smart girl," he mused before snaking an arm around her shoulder and pulling her in closer. "But you've blossomed into an intelligent woman." 

At that moment, Audrey's breath caught in her throat before she planted a tiny kiss on his prickly cheek. The sentence he had uttered had been so simple, but it had poured flammable liquid on the small flame that had already began to burn inside of her. "All of this time, I've been trying to find Agent Cooper... and I've done some things that I know he could never accept. But I hadn't even stopped to think about that because I've been so focused. And now I realise how wrong I've been. I can  _feel_ how much you appreciate me and nobody's ever given me those sorts of feelings." Audrey's oceanic eyes teared up as she suddenly felt compelled to pour her heart and soul out to him. "That's why I'll do whatever it takes. Anything. I don't care. You know I've got the resources and I don't know everything, but we can figure it out." 

The younger woman's words had touched him in a way that he had thought was only reserved for the real Cooper. By his very nature, he viewed everybody as disposable ~~\---~~ only relevant for when he wanted something. Audrey, though? She was different, because he could feel the sincerity and importance of everything she said right down to his bones. That must have been why the thought of harming her had never occurred to him and the idea of anybody else trying to hurt her invoked a feral anger inside of him. 

"It's okay, Audrey," he soothingly mumbled as his hands traced the outline of her spine. "I won't let anybody hurt you ever again." 

 


	10. Chapter 10

The mission was simple: prevent Dale from getting sucked back to The Lodge. 

Audrey pooled every resource she had at her disposal into the task and had worked more diligently than ever to ensure that the new and improved Dale could continue to stay on this plane with her. But cheating reality itself was a bold move, even for her. The more time her and Dale spent together, the more she could feel the intoxicating darkness spread inside of her. It was the closest she had ever felt to feeling complete, but that thought was no longer scaring her like it would have done just days ago. Audrey knew that she could be starting something terrible, but what had the world ever done for her anyway?  _Fuck the world_ , she thought; it was high time that she received compensation for all of the bad hands she had been dealt. 

Dale seemed to be able to read her thoughts because he gently ran the side of his palm behind her ear and started playing with the curly locks of hair. "You're doing great," he mumbled as he breathed in the natural aroma of her soft skin. 

His words relaxed her further and she allowed herself to gently nestle into him as she worked. Audrey felt like she was 18 again, distracted by his hold on her and how even now, he managed to make her heart sing. One thing led to another (as it often did) and it wasn't long before they both found themselves tangled with each other on the bed, sweaty from both exertion and desire. Audrey hoped that it could be like this forever and actually, so did he. 

When Audrey had drifted off to sleep, easier than she had done in years, Dale picked up the work from where she had left. His mind was always far too alert and hardly conducive for a healthy sleep cycle ~~\---~~ not that he really needed it. Dale was increasingly beginning to think that he and Audrey should take off somewhere and leave everything behind. The town of Twin Peaks had a certain energy to it and he didn't trust the place. Certainly, he had thought that Audrey was smart for leaving it for New York where you could be anonymous without a second thought. 

* * *

 

After letting her get as much sleep as she needed, Dale suggested that they go back to Audrey's place and see how to progress from there. So they did just that and neither looked back. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they managed to keep Dale out of the lodge, effectively consigning Audrey's soul to it in the process. Audrey felt that it was a minuscule sacrifice to make, because with her plans and money, she had no intention of crossing over to the other side for a long while yet.  


End file.
